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FRANCISCO DE PAULA MARTYNEZ DE LA ROS...

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 800 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FRANCISCO DE PAULA MARTYNEZ DE LA See also:

ROSA (2789–1862)  , See also:Spanish statesman and dramatist, was See also:born on the loth of See also:March 1789 at See also:Granada, and educated at the university there . He won popularity with a See also:series of epigrams on See also:local celebrities published under the See also:title of El Cementerio de momo . During the struggle against See also:Napoleon he took the patriotic See also:side, was elected See also:deputy, and at See also:Cadiz produced his first See also:play, Lo que puede un empleo, a See also:prose See also:comedy in the manner of the younger See also:Moratin . La Viuda de See also:Padilla (1814), a tragedy modelled upon See also:Alfieri, was less acceptable to the Spanish public . Meanwhile the author became more and more engulfed in politics, and in 2814 was banished to See also:Africa, where he remained till 182o, when he was suddenly recalled and appointed See also:prime See also:minister . During the next three years he was the most unpopular See also:man in See also:Spain; denounced as a revolutionist by the Conservatives and as a reactionary by the Liberals, he alienated the sympathies of all parties, and his See also:rhetoric earned for him the contemptuous nick-name of Rosita la Pastelera . Exiled in 1823, he took See also:refuge in See also:Paris, where he issued his Obras literarias (1827), including his Arte poetica, in which he exaggerated the See also:literary theories already promulgated by Luzan . Returning to Spain in 1831, he became prime minister on the See also:death of See also:Ferdinand VII., but proved incapable of See also:coping with the insurrectionary See also:movement and resigned in 1834 . He was See also:ambassador at Paris in 1839–1840 and at See also:Rome in 1842–1843, joined the Conservative party, held many important offices, and was See also:president of See also:congress and director of the Spanish See also:academy at the See also:time of his death, which took See also:place at See also:Madrid on the 7th of See also:February 1862 . As a states-man, Martinez de la See also:Rosa never See also:rose above mediocrity . It was his misfortune to be in place without real See also:power, to struggle against a turbulent pseudo-democratic movement promoted by unscrupulous soldiers, and to contend with the intrigues of the See also:king, the See also:court camarilla and the See also:clergy . But circumstances which hampered him in politics favoured his career in literature .

He was not a See also:

great natural force; his See also:early plays and poems are influenced by Moratin or by Melendez See also:Valdes; his Espiritu del siglo (1835) is an elegant See also:summary of all the commonplaces concerning the See also:philosophy of See also:history; his Dona See also:Isabel de See also:Solis (1837–1846) is a weak See also:imitation of See also:Walter See also:Scott's See also:historical novels . Still his place in the history of Spanish literature is secure, if not eminent . Through the happy See also:accident of his See also:exile at Paris he was thrown into relations with the leaders of the See also:French'romantic movement, and was so far impressed with the innovations of the new school as to write in French a romantic piece entitled Aben-Humeya (183o), which was played at the See also:Porte See also:Saint-See also:Martin . The experiment was not unsuccessful, and on his return to Madrid Martinez de la Rosa produced La ConjuraciOn de Venecia (See also:April 23, 1834), which entitles him to be called the See also:pioneer of the romantic See also:drama in Spain . The play is more reminiscent of Casimir See also:Delavigne than of See also:Victor See also:Hugo; but it was unquestionably effective, and smoothed the way for the bolder essays of Rivas, See also:Garcia Gutierrez and See also:Hartzenbusch .

End of Article: FRANCISCO DE PAULA MARTYNEZ DE LA ROSA (2789–1862)
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